Sharing the Spirit of Christmas Year-Round

A Holiday Favorite- Legos!

Legos are still one of my favorite gifts to give, and receive, at Christmas time. Every year when we do Secret Santa at work I make sure to list them on my little form as a toy favorite. These creative building sets are produced by the Lego Group and have been around since 1949. They got their start in Denmark and are still produced there today. The bricks are the creation of Ole Christiansen who was a carpenter. He got started making wooden toys in 1932 and by 1934 his company was known by the Dutch phrase Log Godt, or “play well”. By 1947 Ole had transitioned to using plastic to create blocks for building sets. These came to be now as “automatic binding bricks” and the first Legos as we would recognize them were produced in 1949. By 1958 the design had changed to a universal standard that still is used today. Blocks from 50 years ago would fit together perfectly with blocks produced today! In the last 50 years over 50 billions building bricks have been created. On average there are about 36 billion produced in a year now. The company still holds to the same values that guided their early success. These values are: Imagination, Creativity, Fun, Learning, Caring, and Quality. It is easy to see how these values guide the fantastic products that still find a home under Christmas trees around the world.

The Lego company has more than just building sets for the consumer today. There are books, movies, video games, and even amusement parks. All of these various items could be the perfect Christmas gift for that creative child of any age. There are small mini-figures for Christmas that include Santa, snowmen, trees, and reindeer. There are a number of ornament designs you could choose to build. Occasionally there will be special sets dedicated to Christmas and winter. Starting this October you can purchase the new Winter Village Cottage. This $99 set, exclusive for the holidays 2012, has over 1400 pieces and includes trees, decorations, and a home ready for Christmas. If that isn’t enough of a challenge for you master builders, you might want to get started on your own project to rival the world’s largest Lego Christmas Tree. This creation was built in 2011 in the UK at the Pancras Station in London. The tree used over 600,000 bricks and towered above the public at 33 feet tall. Check out this website for a great photo collection. I think I might be able to find a plan to build a Lego Nativity scene. What do you think?